Richard Poole
Richard Poole was born in Nairobi, Kenya on 25 January 1958. Following the death of his father in Kenya, he moved to the UK was brought up in Rhyl in North Wales with his younger brother.
As a teenager he competed at county level in athletics and swimming and at age 16 years joined a new karate club which was affiliated to the Karate Union of Great Britain.
Richard continued to train whilst studying to become a teacher of Physical Education at Cardiff College of Education. In 1977 he graded shodan and was selected to compete for the KUGB Welsh team and in 1978 for the Welsh All Styles team. He competed nationally and internationally before and after graduation until sustaining a C5 fracture (broken neck) in a climbing accident.
Following a long period of recovery Richard was once more selected to represent Wales and competed nationally and internationally in ESKA in both kata and kumite until his retirement from competition in 1993. In addition to instructing at Cambridge University Karate Club and the Rhyl and Prestatyn karate clubs in North Wales, Richard has since 1993 been an ESKA referee and was chairman of the KUGB in Wales for 25 years. He was graded 7th Dan in 2018.
Richard’s career included work both in sales and then as a scientist for a multi-national pharmaceutical company and later as a science teacher in secondary education.
With his background in education and business in the pharmaceutical industry Richard was well placed for a leadership role in the further development of karate in Wales and Great Britain. For many years he served as chairman of both the governing body for karate in Wales and the Federation of British Karate Governing Bodies (BKF). It was during this period that he also managed the BKF team which topped the medal board in the 1996 WKF championships in Sun City South Africa. For several years he was also national kata coach for the Welsh (KUGB) Team.
Richard was elected President of the European Shotokan Karate-do Association in 2008 and the World Shotokan Karate-do Association in 2009.
Richard has expressed his pride in the growth of ESKA and the pivotal role that it has had and continues to have in the development of Shotokan karate in Europe. During his presidential address Richard stated
'It is important that ESKA continues its focus on the traditional values and strengths of Shotokan karate and that our yearly championships continue to be characterised by the fiercely competitive nature of matches on the tatami and the high value we place on mutual respect and standards of etiquette.'
Committees
Kata Qualifications
Kumite Qualifications
Executive Board
Technical Committee
Organisation Committee
Juding Committee
- Beni Isenegger